Improvement in carpet-sweepers



UNITESD STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM SMITH HALL, OF QUINCY,MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN- CARPET-SWEEPERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 187,374, dated February13, i877; application tiled December 15, 1876.

To all 'whom t may concern Beit known that I, WILLIAM SMITH HALL, ofQuincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improved Sweeping-Machine, of which the following is aspecification This invention relates to sweeping-machines of the classwherein the dirt or dust is taken up by the action ot' a current of air,and is an improvement on United States Patent No. 91,145. In that patentthe dust and dirt are discharged into a porous receptacle, the airaccompanying the particles passing through the receptacle into theapartment.

The current of air to take up the 'dust and dirt particles -is created'by a rotating fan ot' any usual construction. In that patent theparticles passed through the fan-chamber to the porous receptacle; butin this invention the particles are stopped by a reticulated orforaminous screen placed between the surface being swept and thelan-chamber. In that patent the particles were taken up only by theaction of suction, but in this invention the sweeper-case is soconstructed that the fan, besides acting as a suction-fan, also acts asa blast to assist in moving the particles from the surface being swept.

This invention has reference to the combination in a sweeping-machine,with a rotating fan, ot' a reticulated or foralninous screen placedbetween the dust or dirt receptacle and the fan-chamber; also, to thecombination, with the rotating fan and screen, ot' a clearer to removethe dust particles from the screen, to prevent its perforations orpassages becoming clogged or stopped; also, iu the combination, with afan and fan-case and dirt-chamber, of a deector to direct the blast ofair generated by the fan upon the surface of the floor or surface beingswept, from which point it is further deflected into the dirt-chamber,the blast and suction of the fan together operating to dislodge and pickup the particles of dust and dirt and convey them to the dirtreceptacle.In this way the current of air generated or set in motion by the fan ispractically and substantially confined inside the sweeper, and does notaffect the atmosphere of the apartment to the degree that it does whenthe air sucked up by the fan is again discharged into Vthe apartment.

By means of a sweeper constructed in accordance with this invention thecreation of floating dust and dirt in the apartment being swept issubstantially obviated or prevented, which is a feature of greatsanitary importance.

Figure l represents an end view of this improved sweeper, the end casingbeing removed on line x fr, to show the construction of the parts. Fig.2 is a longitudinal section on line y y, Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is a topview, partially broken away, to show the partitions in the airepassage,to be hereinafter referred to.

The fan-wheel af, having in this instance four arms, has its shaft bsustained by a bearing, c,

and is provided at one end with a pulley, d,

driven to rotatethe fan by meansof a belt or equivalent, c, extendedabout a pulley,f, the latter having an attached smaller pulley, g,driven by a belt, It, set in motion by a pulley, i, rotated by hand, thepulley t' being adjustably held upon the handle j ot' the sweeper,suitably hinged at its lower end with the sweepercase, or aXlesupporting the wheels, of the sweeper-case. The fan rotates within afan-case, It, one side of which is the end of the sweeper-case, and theother the plate or wall 2 (see Fig. l) and reticulated or foraininousscreen m, the main part of the remaining portion of the case beingherein shown as curved and arranged about the fan-wheel. AV spout, n,forming part of the fan-case leads into the gathering-chamber o.

The back portion of the sweeper is supported by wheels 3 4, turning onan axle, 5, with which the handlej is suitably hinged. The wheel 3 has acrank-pin, 6, connected by link 7 with an arm, S, of a shaft, 9, adaptedto operate a clearer, p, that moves substantially in contact with thesurface of the reticulated screen m, against which the particles ofdust, dirt, paper, 8tc.,picked up from the surface being swept strike.The current of air, being substantially continuous through the openingsof the screen, causes the. fibrous or other particles gathered from thefloor to cling to the face ot the screen, and it would soon becomeclogged or stopped so as notI to operate lin the best manner were it notfor theclearer, which detaches the dust particles collected thereon.

At the forward portion of the sweeper-case is a gathering-chamber, o,into which the particles of dust are irst gathered. This chainber has abottom plate, 10, with a tlat presser plate, ll, extending from endplate to end platelZ of the chamber, the plate 11 resting upon andsubstantially iush with the surface of the floor or upon the carpet. Thetop and front plates of the chamber are represented by figures 13 14.Near the lower edge of the front plate 14 is placed a delecting-plate,15. The air drawn into the sweepercase by the fan enters the opening tbetween the deflecting-plate and the presser-plate, and such air, actingupon the dust and dirt on the floor, is 'drawn into Athe dirt-receptacles, conveying with it the dirt, where it is lodged and retained,I thescreen preventing its passage theresuction and the blast, and the air isnot discharged into the room. When the fan ceases to move the dust anddirt settle in the cham* ber s, from which they may be removed through asuitable hinged door, (shown in this instance at bf.) The shape of thecase composing the chamber may be varied without departing from thisinvention 5 so, also, may the fanwheel and clearer be modified-as, forinstance, the clearer might be attached to the axle and -rotate.

yA sweeper of this class does not wear the carpet, as does a sweeperdepending upon a brush to raise the dust or dirt. The partitions lQi,located between the discharging-mouth of the spout n, through which theair is forced as a blast against the deectingplate and floor, and theend of the gathering-chamber, act to separate the air-passage leadingfrom the gathering-chamber into the dirt-receptacle into severalpassages, and in this way the force of the blast ot' air is distributedmore evenly in the lpassage than it-would otherwise be, for

tially as described.

3. In a sweeping-machine, the combination, with a fan-case and spout anddirt-receptacle, of a rotary fan and deflector, adapted to create andmaintain a current of air through the sweeper, substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination of the fan, fan-case, and deilector with the.gathering-chamber and dirt-receptacle, substantially as described.

5. In a sweeping-machine, a rotating' fanwheel, in combination with agatheringchamber, and an air-deiector to deflect the air set in motionand forced from the fan-case upon the loor, and direct it thence intothe sweepercase, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM SMITH HALL. Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, S. B. KIDDER.

